Also: Wiranto ready for questioning on East Timor; Wiranto's retirement confirmed

Indonesia names team to investigate Timor rights abuses

JAKARTA, April 19 (AFP) - Indonesia's attorney general Wednesday swore in a 79-member team charged with officially investigating human rights violations during the wave of terror in East Timor last year.

The team, made up of 38 prosecutors, six police officers, 10 military police officers, 15 legal experts, and 10 officials from the home ministry, will have three months to complete their task, Attorney General Marzuki Darusman said during the inauguration ceremony.

Led by M.A. Rahman, the deputy attorney general for general crimes, the team will start its work on Thursday and is likely to soon travel to East Timor to question witnesses and gather evidence, Darusman said.

He did not give a date for the investigators first visit to the former Portuguese colony, but added that an agreement with the UN Transitional Administration in East Timor (UNTAET) had been made to facilitate the team's work.

"This human rights investigation is something new and will be a milestone in the history of law enforcement in this country," Darusman told the team.

He detailed some of the main points of focus of the probe as:

-- A militia attack on the Dili house of independence activist Manuel Carrascalao during an unchecked rampage by pro-Indonesian militia in April last year, which left at least a dozen people dead, including Carrascalao's son.

-- The attack on the Dili diocese house, and the forced deportation of thousands of refugees sheltering from there to Indonesian-controlled West Timor in September.

-- Attacks on refugees holed up in churches in the towns of Liquisa and Suai in April and September respectively.

-- The murder of Dutch journalist Sander Thoenes, who was working for the Financial Times newspaper, on September 21 by armed men a day after the multinational forces landed in East Timor to halt the rampage.

Indonesia's national human rights commission has named former army chief General Wiranto and 32 other soldiers and officials as suspected of involvement or responsibility for the violence before and after the East Timor ballot on August 30.

The ballot results, which showed that East Timorese voted three-to-one for independence, unleashed a wave of violence by angry pro-Jakarta militias backed by the Indonesian army which razed much of the territory to the ground.

Hundreds of thousands of people fled or were forced to flee at gunpoint to Indonesian-controlled West Timor.

The report by the rights commission was submitted to the attorney general's office for an official investigation.

Wiranto, currently under temporary suspension from his cabinet post by President Abdurrahman Wahid pending further investigation, has denied any wrongdoing.

The UN Human Rights Commission made its own inquiry into the violence in East Timor and recommended convening an international war crimes tribunal to prosecute suspects.

However, it has said it is waiting to see if the Indonesian process brings the guilty to justice.

President Wahid, who ordered Wiranto's suspension until the legal process over the East Timor violence is completed, has said he would pardon him if he was found guilty.

But the government has said it would not be bound by any UN move to initiate prosecution proceedings through an international court.

Associated Press April 19, 2000

Indonesia Names Team To Investigate East Timor Atrocities

JAKARTA (AP)--The government named a 79-member team Wednesday to investigate human rights violation in East Timor during the last days of Indonesian rule in the province.

The team, installed by Attorney-General Marzuki Darusman, includes 38 prosecutors and 16 police officers.

The team has a three-month mandate to conduct an inquiry into last year's campaign of rape, murder and destruction.

Darusman said the team would follow up on a report released in January by a panel of state-appointed human right investigators.

The panel, known as the Investigative Commission of Human Rights Abuses in East Timor, found that former military chief Gen. Wiranto and several other generals were implicated in the violence.

The report led to Wiranto's suspension from the government.

Pro-Jakarta militias in East Timor went on a rampage following an overwhelming vote for independence in a U.N.-sponsored plebiscite on Aug. 30. About 250 people were killed and thousands of homes and buildings were destroyed.

Suspended minister Wiranto ready for questioning on East Timor

04/19/2000 BBC Monitoring Source: `Media Indonesia', Jakarta, in Indonesian 19 Apr 00

Excerpt from report by Indonesian newspaper `Media Indonesia' web site on 19th April

Jakarta: Suspended Coordinating Minister for Political and Security Affairs Gen Wiranto has declared his readiness to be questioned by the Joint Investigation Team with regard to alleged human rights violations following the East Timor ballot. Proceedings in the case will begin at the end of April in the Attorney-General's Office.

"I am ready to be questioned and I support the establishment of the Joint Investigation Team," said Wiranto, replying to journalists' questions during celebrations of the 48th anniversary of Kopassus [Army Special Forces Command] in Jakarta yesterday (17th April). He said he had no objection to the formation of a Joint Investigation Team, consisting of relevant institutions, to reveal the truth behind allegations that several generals committed human rights violations in East Timor . According to Wiranto, if the team can help accelerate the investigation process involving him and a number of other generals, then it should be supported...

Wiranto's Retirement Confirmed Jakarta Post April 20, 2000

Wiranto's retirement confirmed

JAKARTA (JP): Minister of Defense Juwono Sudarsono confirmed on Wednesday the retirement of former Indonesian Military chief Gen. Wiranto as of March 31.

"I have seen the decree (on Wiranto's retirement) and it was signed by the President (Abdurrahman Wahid)," Juwono told reporters after attending a Cabinet meeting at Bina Graha presidential office.

"But I don't know whether he (Wiranto) has already received the decree," Juwono added.

Juwono was responding to a question about Wiranto's status as the latter claimed earlier this week that he was still an active general.

The decision to retire Wiranto, 53, from military service was first disclosed by Abdurrahman in late January.

The President's announcement came days before the government-sanctioned Commission of Inquiry into Human Rights Violations in East Timor (KPP HAM) implicated Wiranto and 32 other military and police officers in last year's violence in the former Indonesian province.

Abdurrahman then suspended Wiranto from his Cabinet post as coordinating minister for political affairs and security in February, pending completion of the investigation into his alleged involvement in the violence.

Abdurrahman said in January that three other active military officers serving in the Cabinet were also going to retire on March 31.

They were Minister of Mines and Energy Lt. Gen. Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, Minister of Communications Lt. Gen. Agum Gumelar and State Minister of Administrative Reforms Rear Adm. Freddy Numberi.

Under the climate of political reform, it has been stipulated that military and police officers serving at a government post must resign from active service. (byg)

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